Mess Meetings
During one of the monthly mess meetings I a teetotaller was nominated as the wine member and yet on another occasion a strict vegetarian as the food member both appointments lasting for rather short terms. The food member is responsible for the daily menu quality of food served and the accounting to see that the daily messing expenses are well within the current norms operating through the Mess Havaldar.
Vegetarian
I avoided the kitchen as much as possible averse to the sight of the mutton dressed chicken and the looks of the dead and smelly fish being readied for cooking. However I had now chance to do some thing for the long suffering clan of vegetarians neglected by a series of non-vegetarians food members. My orders to the mess Havaldar were simple unambiguous and explicit; what ever the cost of the Chicken fish or meat, same amount of dry fruits and special condiments be added to the vegetarian dishes. Soon every dining member turned a vegetarian till one day when the CO decided to join us for lunch noticing the en masse conversion and change in the food habits of his offices he took a spot decision and I to my utter relief and delight of the forced convertees was promptly sacked as the food member.
Gen KS Thimayya
The high point of my tenure with XI Corps Signal Regiment and my service life as a Lieutenant with just two years of service was when I had the rare opportunity and privilege of providing the communication link while on the move from Jalandhar to Manali and from Manali to Jalandhar on reaching there for the Chief of the Army Staff Gen Thimayya holidaying there in October 1957. Although I was independent administratively I was fortunate to be invited rather ordered to sit on the table with the General his gracious wife and vivacious daughter along with his Military Assistant Lt Col Munshi and the ADC.
Family Member
I had the unique privilege to see and admire his much faceted personality at close quarters, his compassion for a junior officer the role-playing hen-pecked husband, the obviously doting father enjoying being the butt of jokes from the two of them. The same person changing to the steel of a Chief of the Army Staff the moment we arrived back at Pathankot where he was to address the Garrison troops. The aura of his personality now with change of venue and audience appeared so strong and visible that I felt the impact even from afar. Seeing him now a distance and unapproachable figure I felt lost having been so to say part of the family for a fortnight.
Communicating with Sputnik on 04 Oct 1957
How I got inducted in the family deserves telling. On way to Manali the General’s caravan stopped for tea. Each one of us selects a boulder on the banks of the fast flowing Beas to seat ourselves. Naturally I had selected the one farthest from the General’s group. Possibly that was the reason he noticed me the only officer present who was not part of his group. Beckoned, as I approached him he shot a question at me ‘Are you in contact with Sputnik’ He was referring to the Russian satellite launched on 4th October the same year beeping as it orbited round the earth and the talk of the town. I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind; "Sir you provide me with the frequency and I will make contact".
Ham consumed as vegetable
Mrs Thimayya kindly offered me a couple of sandwiches with what I thought had Tomato fillings. It was Ham and not Tomato a few bites later I felt that the sandwich tasted a bit different; being a vegetarian I had no idea of the taste of Ham. Totally confused with the turn of events I just did not know what to do and the best course appeared to somehow gulp them down. The Generals wife being a perceptive lady had sensed my predicament and throughout our stay at Manali she ensured that there was a vegetarian dish on the table. On the return journey we once again stopped on the banks of River Beas this time for lunch. Now it was Mrs. Thimayya’s turn to feel embarrassed; the packed lunch consisted of Roast Chicken and Potatoes. However, by now I had been fully domesticated and was quite happy to pick the Roast Potatoes gingerly from the Chicken and somehow push them down one at a time at the same time managing not to show my dilemma. This was the least I could do for all the consideration shown to me all these days. This was my last and only willing encounter with non vegetarian food. Some how I have managed to remain a vegetarian during 30 years in the Army even at times when I was without food for days together especially during the Sino Indian conflict in 1962. Possibly there was no General’s wife to offer me the Khichri prepared by my Jawans to which they had added a bird from a nearby bush.
(Recollections XI Corps Signal Regiment 1956 to 1958)
Brig Lakshman Singh, VSM (Retd)
No comments:
Post a Comment